


Hen's Teeth

by tielan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fourth Wall, Late Night Conversations, Metafiction, New Year's Eve, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 22:12:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1165153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a brand new year, with no mistakes in it...yet...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hen's Teeth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hornswaggler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hornswaggler/gifts).



> Hornswaggler asked for 'a fluffy Steve/Maria thing'. Probably not quite as fluffy as she hoped. (Sorry! I'm feeling meta.)
> 
> Also being used for my 'Metafiction' box in [Trope Bingo](http://tielan.dreamwidth.org/683052.html).

Maria expects Steve to find her after the ball drops.

She doesn’t expect him to turn up at five minutes to midnight with two bottles of water and a party hat, which he fits on her head before kissing her in greeting.

“Got tired of the party?”

“I was tired of the party five minutes in,” she notes, letting him stand in close because it’s nice to have the large warmth of him beside her like her own personal water bottle. “Besides, the kids make me feel old.”

“Try being born ninety years ago, and then talk to me about feeling old,” he suggests over her shoulder. “But yeah, they have a lot of energy. The young scientists...geeks, they’re called now?”

Maria snorts. “Fitz and Simmons? Yeah, geeks.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know how Coulson stands it. Although I guess he has May there to manage them. Sort of. She seems to have been getting up to shenanigans with Ward lately, though.”

An arm snakes about her waist, holding her against him. “Shenanigans, huh? Does that mean that _we_ —?”

“No,” she says, cool and level while her heart pounds a little too loudly in her ears. “We don’t.”

“Not even the other day with the jam and the cream—?” Steve stops when she slaps him on the thigh, but he’s still laughing against her nape. “Okay. No shenanigans.”

But his hand has slid in under her jacket, under her cashmere sweater, fingers rubbing against the soft flesh of her belly. Maria doesn’t quite squirm, doesn’t quite arch. But she doesn’t slap his hands away either, just leans back against him.

“Going to be a busy year,” he says after a moment. 

“For you, anyway,” she murmurs. “With the new movie.”

“Not much about us, though.”

“There was an ‘us’ to begin with?” Maria relaxes into him when he tenses. “You know there never really was outside of this. I checked you out the first time on the helicarrier, and a couple of people noticed, but not many. I’m not depicted as the kind of woman that people notice, and so they mostly don’t.”

“I did.”

“Yes, but only in here. Out there...well, they prefer you with Stark or Coulson or Bucky. Or Peggy or Natasha, if they lean het. I’m a passing face at best. That’s just the way it is. And then there’ll be Sharon after the movie if things play out right. It might not.”

“And you might end up working with Coulson and the geeky young things,” he says lightly. “Possibly with shenanigans.”

“No, Ward’s too pretty – and with the triangle they’re playing out between him and May and Skye, they don’t need another woman. Fitz is too young.” Maria ponders it for a moment. “Although I suppose I could go cougar seeing as May’s already broken the age barrier.”

“But not Phil?”

“Not when I know what’s been done to him.” Maria winces a little. “I liked it better when his death meant something.”

“It....makes things a little awkward, I guess. I never really knew him before.” He sighs. “I think I’m going to miss this.”

“You _think_ you’re going to miss this?”

Steve nuzzles her throat again. “All right, I _am_ going to miss this. Although, just because it’s rare doesn’t mean we have to give it up entirely, right?”

“It’ll just become even more rare,” Maria says, then shifts. Out in the city, the tenor of the noise has shifted subtly, from the raucous laughter of unbridled partying to excited anticipation. “I think the countdown’s going.” 

They listen as the chorus of voices chant their way down to the New Year.

_...Five, four, three, two, one..._

The city fills with honks and cheers, loud bursts of music and fireworks out off the bay.

Maria turns to Steve and slides her arms around his neck.

“Happy New Year, Captain Rogers,” she murmurs in the space between their mouths.

“Happy New Year, Lieutenant.” He closes the gap.


End file.
